Back to Work

A week (almost) of vacation is a bit extreme for me. Ive only had such a vacation about four times before--at least since I was aBoy Scout. My family used to go to Lubec, Maine, for vacation when I was a young teenager. I went once with the family, but after I turned 16 I had a summer job that prevented me from going along. After Jeanne Black graduated from Brown in 1975, we drove her to Atlanta to start graduate school, and took about a week between driving down the coast and then spending a few days in Atlanta before I left to go to my summer job. When I became Dan Kim's partner, we spent vacations on Newfoundland and Labrador and later in southern California. And Leonel and I spent a week in the Dominican Republic in his last August, just as he was beginning to share with people that he was HIV positive.

All my other "vacations," that I can recall, were either shorter than a week or were working vacations where I was driving a bus or truck to Mexico on the way to Cuba, for example, or being a road manager for a film that was being made with artists and volunteers, for example. Lots of traveling in my life, but much of it while working.

I go back to work today, with so many projects running late. If I am ever going to learn to take a vacation, I think I need not to be so overwhelmed and ashamed that so much yet needs to be done. I bet that that is just the way the world is, and being able to detach from the hubbub and personal responsibilitiy needs to be part of coping and caring. So this queasy feeling is good for me, yes?

I have a graveside committal in a few hours, so I'll stop writing now. Only ready to say that "I'm back," and, despite 2,700 unread e-mail messages (and more every minute!) I'm ready to go.

Sun rising later and later. Passed to 7:00 a.m. yesterday (Labor Day), and 7:01 a.m. today (EDT). By the end of the month, it will be 7:30! Yikes! (Just getting acclimated to THIS place and ITS sunrises.)

Crisp air, feeling a bit like fall. Steady drone of traffic. Noticing a little acoustic trick, where the sounds coming from one side of the room find an echo is what comes from the other window. Sounds rich, full.

Good morning.